By Rachel Bergen From an early age, Lioni Tobing was curious about who exactly God is. She would wonder funny things about her Creator like, “Does God drink coffee or tea? Does God like cookies?” But never got the answers she needed, nor did she feel comfortable asking people in her church these types of…
Tag: Muslim
Celebrating the Unsung Heroes on International Women’s Day
By Rachel Bergen Women are unacknowledged heroes in the world. They are peacemakers, providers, self-sacrificing, and strong in the face of incredible adversity. Today, March 8 marks an opportunity to recognize all that women do to contribute to their communities, despite a lack of parity with males. Today is International Women’s Day. It’s a global…
Creative Storytelling as a Tool for Transformation
For the first time at School of Peace, participants used puppets and dioramas to explain issues from their communities. In the third module, Hem Sopharak “Small” led a session on creative storytelling as a tool for transformation. The participants broke into groups and made their own puppets and dioramas to explain problems like colonization, trauma, reconciliation, and…
A Time for Compassion and Interfaith Dialogue
By Rachel Bergen Following the brutal attacks in Paris, my Facebook and Twitter feeds exploded with news articles, haunting pictures and videos, and calls for action. These calls included pleas for rational thought and understanding for the 99.997 per cent of Muslims who do not condone this violence. People continue to send out appeals on social media to…